


A Little Help From My Friends

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Big Wolf on Campus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-22
Updated: 2004-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-25 04:03:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1630484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merton has a problem. A friend helps out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Help From My Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Nyx

 

 

Merton J Dingle had a problem. No, not a problem. He had an opportunity. Positive thinking, right? Maybe it would help to review the facts. He stopped pacing the cage-like confines of his dorm room and flopped onto the black comforter covering his teensy dorm issue bed. Tommy had teased him for trying to create a new lair away from home, but life away from the parents had taught him some hard facts, like when your mother wasn't there to do laundry every week, a light colored comforter looked pretty nasty, pretty quick. Tommy's comforter was a running joke. He mentally rolled his eyes. What was he, some kind of moon-eyed girl? Why did everything relate back to Tommy? Ok, ok. The facts. Fact one: He had a massive, angsty crush on his best friend. Fact two: His best friend was male. Fact three: His best friend was gorgeous, and muscular, and popular. Fact four: His best friend had shown no signs of ever thinking of liking guys. Merton reviewed his mental list, pulled his black pillow over his face, and gave up on positive thinking. He had a problem.

Initially, college had been great. Living with Tommy was no big - they had spent so much of their time together back home there was almost no difference. Except the lack of parents, and somewhat more importantly, the lack of high school atmosphere. Suddenly, nobody cared that Tommy the Jock was hanging with Merton the Goth. All those rigid social structures of high school were faded and ignored, and without his secondary friend base to distract him, Tommy spent pretty much all his time with Merton. They got rid of their Gen Ed. requirements together, with Merton leaning over to make sarcastic comments about the various profesors and fellow students in Tommy's notebook, and Tommy getting Merton to go over everything he'd missed because of laughter the night before the exams with him. Everything had been fine. Better than fine. Everything had been awesome.

It was that damn foreign language requirement's fault. When Merton had mentioned he planned to take German, Tommy had laughed at him - laughed at him! - and insisted that he would not be joining him. "While you, my pale pal, are learning the language of beer and the disgusting concoction known as goetta, I will be spending my time far more wisely."

"How can you take this so lightly, Tommy," Merton yelped, "So many of the texts on werewolves are in German! This could lead to a very important breakthrough!"

"Well," Tommy grinned, "I certainly hadn't considered that."

Merton hmphed. "Clearly not!"

"I suppose it's a good thing you'll be taking it then. I'll be busy learning the language of love, my friend, and that is just as important."

Merton could only gape at his friend. What the hell...ooh! Maybe it was a spell!

"Tommy! Have you ingested any strange concoctions? Met any warty women?! Who has done this to you? We gotta research."

"Why does your voice always get that squeaky when you think evil is afoot? Anyway, it's not a spell. I'm just taking Italian; I think it'll be cool."

"How do you know it's not a spell? Not to be harsh, Tommy, but it's not like you're mister perceptive when it comes to knowing that sort of thing, and..."

But his exhortation was cut short, by the simple expedient of Tommy reaching over and covering his mouth.

"Merton. It is not a spell. Calm down."

And that was the end of it. Until now.

Since Merton was busy trying to learn German for Tommy's sake, Tommy had to find an alternate study buddy for those exams. And he had. Oh, he had. Her name was Alicia. She had red hair. She took aikido. Tommy had some serious girl issues. But then, Merton had his own issues with Alicia. He hated her. He had tried everything to unveil her as some sort of demon, or witch, or at the very least stupid. But she was smart, and funny - way less uptight than Stacey and less prone to random fits of violence than Lori. Merton really should like her, he knew, and yet...the hate remained. Oh yes. Merton was not a stupid guy, really. He could be oblivious sometimes, rather caught up in a world of his own, but he generally knew what was going on around him once he bothered to think about it. He hadn't wanted to think about the cause of the Alicia hatred. His subconscious let him know that would be a bad idea, and why disregard your own mind?

But this thing had gotten out of control, and Tommy was increasingly annoyed by Merton's behavior. Alicia just seemed amused, which only made Merton hate her more. So Merton had been forced to think, and now he had this problem. He had always known Tommy was a cute guy. It was just a fact back at Pleasantville High, everyone knew it. And he'd known he liked Tommy. But somehow he had kept the two ideas very very separate. Now that they were at college, they had started to...merge, very unsettlingly. He'd think "Maybe I'll convince Tommy to go bowling tonight." And, entirely unbidden, the thought would arise, "Tommy looks hot when he gets all competitive." This was the essence of the problem.

The door burst open, slamming into the side of their mini-fridge with a quiet thud. There room probably wouldn't win any points for feng shui, but everything fit in, which had seemed impossible when they arrived last fall.

"Hey Merton, you up to anything tonight?" Tommy was in a good mood. He was really attractive when he was in a good mood.

"Well it seems it's really hard to smother yourself," Merton said, sitting up and tossing his pillow aside. "I could be persuaded to leave my den."

"Awesome. My Italian professor is giving bonus points for going to some film over at the artsy theatre. Help keep me awake?"

"Why can't Alicia go?" Merton really didn't mean to say that. He sounded like a jealous girlfriend.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "She went last night, said I should snag you to keep me company and go tonight. She thought we'd enjoy it."

Merton considered refusing out of spite, but decided he'd really rather get out and hang out with his friend. Without an interfering redhead around.

Two hours later, Merton was fairly certain he was having an aneurysm. Or a heart attack. Something was squeezing something vital in his chest, he felt strangely hot and his breath was uneven. This had to be an aneurysm, because he could not be seeing what he thought he was on the screen. He glanced over at Tommy, but he was looking forward at the screen. And that was a sign, because Tommy would not just be watching all casually as the Italian guy onscreen got it on with the other man he had met at the club. He had to be having hallucinations. He risked a glance back up at the screen. Dear god! There was a lot of flesh up there. He tried to look away again and figure out what was going on, but his gaze kept being drawn to the images on the screen. A large, callused hand stroking up a muscular thigh, reaching for...dear god! Merton darted his eyes to Tommy. This time, Tommy was taking a sip of his soda as he watched the...action onscreen, utterly oblivious to his best friend's imminent meltdown. How was this possible?! Had the world gone mad and Merton had been so busy angsting in his bedroom he missed it? Ooh! Alternate dimension! He glanced again over at Tommy, and leaned a little closer to murmur, "What dimension is this?"

His only response was a quick grin from Tommy, and a finger pointed at the screen, where Roberto was down on his knees in front of Carlo and hungrily sucking the other man's dick.

Merton was unable to withhold the embarrassing shocked squeak that issued from his throat.

Tommy leaned close. "I have a handout I need to fill out on this. Shh."

"I hardly think the questions are on this part Tommy!" In his head Merton knew he was acting like a shocked Puritan maiden, but...dear god!

Tommy laughed quietly, but put his finger to his lips and looked away again, up at the screen. Merton looked as well, determined to calm down and appreciate the movie as art, just like Tommy obviously was. Hot, sweaty, sexy...art.

Walking out of that theatre was one of the greatest moments of relief in Merton's young life. Watching the movie had not helped. Watching the movie had made him uncomfortably hard and very hyperaware of Tommy's presence. When Tommy announced he had to run to the restroom and ordered Merton to wait in the lobby, he didn't even think twice. The other four people who had seen the film had already headed out, and he was alone, staring into space, deliberately thinking of nothing, especially not about Roberto and Carlo. Until his phone vibrated against his thigh. "Gyaah!" He got it out of there quickly, checking the screen for the number. Merton didn't recognize it, but answered anyway, desperate for a distraction to keep from falling back onto mental pictures of the film and getting hard in the middle of a theatre lobby.

"Dingle! What is your major malfunction?!"

"Um, hello?"

"This is Alicia. What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Many things, I am beginning to suspect. What's the matter? Why are you calling me?"

"Maybe because Tommy just called me from a restroom hyperventilating about what a terrible idea this was and how he was going to kill me for this. I repeat, what the hell is the matter with you?!"

Comprehension was beginning to dawn. "This was your idea! Why was this your idea? I though you and Tommy were..."

Alicia snorted. "Please. He reminds me of my brother Joe. And, more importantly, he has a huge, all-consuming obsession with his best friend, who just freaked out at their attempted first date like a big, spazzy asshole!"

"Whoa there, crazy lady. Some of us are way behind here. No one mentioned anything about a date."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. "Ok, so maybe Tommy holds the blame for a tiny bit of this cock-up." She then bursts into tiny giggles, ruining any friendly feelings Merton had started to harbor. "I'm so sorry, I couldn't resist."

"Try harder." Merton bitches into the phone. "Some of us are seriously considering the alternate dimension theory. You don't know what my life has been like, it could happen."

"Listen Dingle, all semester I have listened to Tommy go on and on about his "buddy" Merton, and when I mention I'd love to meet his boyfriend he turns a lovely shade of red and rushes to explain that they're totally just friends, nothing like that. So I meet this just a friend Merton, and he hates me. Instantly." She pauses dramatically. "Why the hate, Merton?"

"Just a clash of personalities, I guess." He fibs.

"Pfft. You and I both know that's a load of horseshit. You hated me because I made you jealous. You thought I was getting together with Tommy, and since you are ridiculously in love with him, you hated me."

"I..."

"And after practically an entire semester of talking and prodding and generally having to face my future as a bigger interfering matchmaker than my mother, I get him to ask you out. And now Tommy is having a heart attack in the bathroom. Are you going to continue to hate everybody he meets, or are you going to stop being a chickenshit and go talk to him?

"I..."

"Good luck."

The dial tone sounds like a death toll in his hand. Well, a death buzz, and he's overreacting, but this is...sounding really promising, actually. This is madness, but if he's in an alternate dimension, he's beginning to think it's better than his home dimension. He's got a date with destiny in the bathroom.

"Hey, Tommy, you in there? Nothing's attacked or eaten you, have they? That would suck. It being our first date and all. Which, I think you're supposed to tell someone about, but that could just be me. I have some crazy customs."

Nobody ever accused Merton of being patient. Usually he would have tried to be a bit smoother, but this was uncharted territory for him, and there was really no point in trying to act smooth in front of Tommy. They'd known each other for too long for that.

Tommy gave a mirthless chuckle from the first stall. "Figured it out?"

"No, actually, since you didn't actually ask me on a date. You said this was for extra credit. Alicia called to read me the riot act."

"What?! That girl is a nuisance, I am telling you. You were so right about her."

"Who, Alicia? You're talking crazy, she's a great girl."

The stall door squeaked open. "You think?"

"Oh, yeah. Rapidly moving up the ranks of my favorite people. Still below several horror film stars, but they've been there a long time, they're hard to replace."

A small, hopeful grin was emerging on Tommy's face. "Really? `Cause I was under the impression you thought she was a vile, vicious, probably evil ditz. I can't think where I got that idea."

"Me either. That's plainly crazy talk. In fact, in a couple minutes she might be my second favorite person in the world."

"A couple minutes? Why in a couple minutes?"

"Well, it really all depends on how this goes," said Merton, and moved quickly to kiss Tommy, right on the lips. He had to move quickly, with a heart rate this sky high he clearly had only minutes to live.

Tommy's lips were smooth, and warm, and very enthusiastically returning the kiss. Merton moved closer, holding onto Tommy's shoulder for support and opening his mouth slightly to lick his lips. Tommy growled low in his throat and invaded Merton's mouth, tongue hot and wet and oh so right and Merton was lost in this kiss and hardly even noticed when Tommy stepped them forward until Merton was backed up against the wall and Tommy had both hands moving on Merton, on his back and his arms and up his sides and this dimension ruled, he was never going back. When breath became an issue, Merton broke the kiss and began to kiss Tommy's neck, and oh, he smelled just like he always had, the same deodorant and the same underlying scent of cotton and sweat and something even deeper underneath. Merton didn't have the wolf's sense of smell, but he knew he would always know this scent, be able to conjure it up with a thought. With a last small nip that made Tommy gasp a bit, Merton looked up at his friend.

"Oh yeah. Definitely number two. You should call her and thank her."

Tommy looked at Merton and smirked. "I'm thinking tomorrow. Wanna head back to the dorms?"

A million rambling thoughts exploded into Merton's mind, but right now the overwhelming thought in his brain was more Tommy, right now, so he would have to wait to consider all the possible outcomes of this.

"Yeah, tomorrow's good. She's probably busy."

 

 

 


End file.
